The Root

There has been plenty of discussion about whether prison is more about rehabilitation, punishment or keeping society safe. However, for Black people especially, it often seems like there’s a fourth option: Prison is about throwing undesirable people away.Read more...

I’m going to need God, Jay-Z, his friend Ty Ty, John Legend, all of the Kardashians, including the recluse boy one, Adidas and Dave Chappelle to put an end to this “Kanye West for President” campaign.

Lena Waithe is never not working. The 36-year-old writer, showrunner, producer and actress is reportedly working on a new drama series centered around open marriages.Read more...

Sometimes a stone, a sling and immaculate aim are enough.

When are y’all gonna stop acting like these WNBA players ain’t with the shits?Read more...

Prospective students at Brooklyn’s Long Island University (LIU) will have the chance to learn from some of the best in business, music, sports and more, thanks to the college’s new partnership with Roc Nation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Jay-Z-owned entertainment company is working with LIU for a new…Read more...

“It is weird?” I asked, in a message I copied and pasted to several people through text, on Gchat, and in Facebook Messenger, six weeks ago. The question was a followup to a revelation I also shared with the same people: I’d recently discovered, while finally seriously researching potential therapists—after telling…Read more...

1 Case of Wine For Home Red Blend | $95 | Meh

The enormousness of the crisis brought on by COVID-19 cannot be overstated. Cases and deaths are steadily rising in multiple states, as are unemployment numbers. Despite the continued severity of the crisis, Congress has stalled on passing a new relief bill and as the federal moratorium on evictions ends, millions of…Read more...

The right to vote is one that has been fought over, died over and challenged again and again, as it was expanded to include African Americans and women after being something only for those who were white and male. While Fair Fight’s Stacey Abrams admitted in our interview that voting is not a catch-all solution to all…Read more...

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is “Black with a capital ‘B’ and a woman with a capital ‘W’” (as she profoundly said in a TEDx Talk). A light in these dark times, Rep. Pressley offers hope for those who may have lost faith in our country’s leaders. She moves through the world fearlessly, despite unrelenting forces of…Read more...

A group of community leaders in Illinois are working with a state lawmaker to abolish the current history curriculum in their local school districts because they believe it leads to “white privilege and a racist society.”Read more...

If you were lucky enough to witness the rise of hip hop from its genesis *raises hand*, then you know there is a “before,” and an “after.” Specifically, there was hip hop before it met and married the world of fashion, and hip hop after its union, in which the era of Kangols, Adidas, 8-Ball jackets and bamboo earrings…Read more...

In Omaha, Neb., a Black man was held at gunpoint even though he didn’t commit any crime—he just “fit the description.”Read more...

Rep. Ayanna Pressley is a history-making Black woman.

Parishioners at a Texas church were shocked to discover their parking lot filled with crimson-necked, pickup-truck-driving, Confederate flag-waving MAGA cyclists who had hoodwinked the house of worship into hosting a Blue Lives Matter rally on Communion Sunday.Read more...

On Friday, The Root reported that the city of Tulsa made a decision last week to remove the Black Lives Matter mural painted on a street in the district where the Black Wall Street race riot occurred in 1921. They made the decision because someone requested that a “Back the Blue” mural be painted in the city as a…Read more...

It’s happening! A gathering of the minds—from politics featuring Stacey Abrams and Ayanna Pressley to entertainment and culture with Ava DuVernay and Lee Daniels to health and wealth with Taraji P. Henson and Cory Booker to social justice with Tarana Burke of #MeToo. It’s time to sit down and talk about how we can…Read more...

August has only just begun, but the 2020 September issues are beginning to debut; each with its own approach to our newly socially distant, racially reawakened reality. (At this point, last September feels like another lifetime, doesn’t it?). Case in point: While a few August covers may have sparked controversy over…Read more...

Biblical scholars, theologians and people who have common sense are dragging a right-wing celebrity you’ve never heard of who claimed that white privilege didn’t stop federal law enforcement officers from killing a popular protest organizer from Nazareth who died with his hands up after a confidential informant named…Read more...

She already told us she was a savage, but never lets us forget she’s a star. After blessing fans, followers and waitlists everywhere with the release of Fenty Skin last week, Rihanna’s got her Fenty Maison heel on our necks once again, as the cover girl for the always anticipated September issue of Harper’s Bazaar—on…Read more...

Since the May 25 death of George Floyd, we’ve learned that the original footage filmed by bystanders that we all have seen—and that kicked off the largest Black Lives Matter movement the world has ever seen—was just the tip of the iceberg. Since then, audio transcripts taken from the body cameras of two of the…Read more...

A new Samuel L. Jackson project is coming our way, and it’s something pretty different from the tough-talking acting legend.Read more...

I’m as petty as the next man. I once made a cashier at the grocery store walk away from her register because of my pettiness. It’s a long story but just know that I was right. So I totally understand pettiness, but there are levels to this shit and no one is as petty as the president. This bama’s petty is off the…Read more...

In late July, rapper Talib Kweli posted a lengthy message to his Instagram account, announcing that after 11 years, he was finally leaving Twitter. “I have officially left @twitter for the greener pastures of @patreon which is membership fee based,” Kweli wrote. “Now most of my exchanges will always be with real fans…Read more...

Bill Russell is an 11-time NBA champion, a civil rights icon and one of the most gregarious men you will ever meet—or would’ve met, rather, considering people keep mistaking the 86-year-old ageless wonder for dead.Read more...

We should stop referring to Donald Trump as a racist.Read more...

When we talk about systemic racism in policing, we’re not just talking about the extrajudicial executions of unarmed Black people. It’s not just about the shootings and the chokehold, but it’s also about racial profiling, harassment and the general disregard for the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of any…Read more...

A Best Buy back-to-school sale on Intel laptops, an array of Samsung Galaxy Active smartwatches, a SteelSeries Arctis 1 gaming headset, a Dyson V6 Absolute cordless vacuum, a Hardside carry-on spinner, and a discounted copy of Batman: The Complete Animated Series lead Tuesday’s best deals.Read more...

Espresso Mugs | $14 | Amazon

Fans of the hit show Power are in for a treat. The official release date and full trailer for the series’ spinoff Power Book II: Ghost dropped on Tuesday. The show is slated to premiere on September 6 at 9 p.m. ET on STARZ.

Since the NBA’s bubble began, I’ve struggled to comprehend the New Orleans Pelican’s rationale. Yes, Zion Williamson is their pride and joy, but if you’re trying to make the playoffs—the Pelicans are currently 11th place in the West—the Duke product has to be on the floor.Read more...

Although clubs are closed for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t mean we can’t shake a lil’ sum’n sum’n in the comfort of our own homes. This Friday, the girls may be getting the summer banger they’ve been craving in order to turn up the way we used to. (It’s me. I’m ‘the girls.’)Read more...

Over the weekend, a group of people who likely think “racial profiling” refers to white people using Black emojis on their social media posts painted a “Back the Blue” mural on a street outside the Tampa Police Department headquarters.Read more...

The Navy SEALS museum in Fort Pierce, Fla., is under investigation after video surfaced of a Colin Kaepernick stand-in being used for an attack dog demonstration.Read more...

Can we get a ‘Hallelujah’ for Danielle Brooks? The Orange Is the New Black star has been cast to portray gospel legend Mahalia Jackson in Lifetime’s Robin Roberts Presents: The Mahalia Jackson Story.

A Black family in Pennsylvania got to experience firsthand the impact of 400 years of white supremacy emboldening white people to act overtly racist when a white man wielding a sword threatened them and made a comment about their race.Read more...

You know, for a group of people that love to talk about their First A amendment right to be an asshole, white folks really love intimidating those whose opinions don’t match theirs. Take for instance 51-year-old James Kleinhenz. He’s a Flagstaff man who, on Saturday, felt the need to verbally harass and then pull a…Read more...

Here at The Root, we are very particular about how we talk about people. First, we don’t want to label anyone as something if that isn’t true and, secondly, we don’t want to get sued. But, whenever I hear that Trump is being investigated for anything my first thought is, “He did that shit.”

I really wanted to like the XFL.Read more...

Like many folks who haven’t seen the hit stage play Hamilton in person, I relished the opportunity to watch it on Disney+ when it released on July 3, 2020. Even if you don’t care for musicals—or the subject matter of this particular musical—it’s impressive in its expanse and each of the stars of the show provide…Read more...

John Boyega is workin’...and it looks like his portrayal will be tackling a timely and often controversial topic: police brutality.Read more...

Booooooy, some of these corporations really need to get out of the pseudo activism business because many of them just can’t seem to do anything right—in America or abroad.Read more...

Writer, showrunner and actress Lena Waithe spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about a host of topics in a brand new feature released Monday, including the need to support the ideas of creatives of color, as well as Black queer representation on television.Read more...

I would be lying if I said I ever watch hockey, but this weekend something spectacular occurred.Read more...

Did Wakanda have housing projects? Payday lenders? A Wakandan Dollar General?Read more...

On Sunday, Michigan Republican State Senator Tom Barrett learned that life comes at you fast.

To the relief of sports heads everywhere, the NBA is officially back in business. However, it looks very different than the sport we’ve all known and loved throughout the course of our lives.Read more...

Bruh…Read more...

For some reason, elected officials can’t seem to stop the hemming and hawing to produce a bill that doesn’t pad the rich and placate the poor during a fucking pandemic in which nearly half of the population is out of work.